Bank merger boosts black-owned chain. (Up Front).

Family Savings Bank was expected on Monday to announce federal approvals and the completion of its merger with Boston Bank of Commerce, creating the largest black-owned bank in the nation.

The new bank, to be called OneUnited Bank, will be headquartered in Los Angeles, where many of its celebrity investors live. The deal unites Family Savings with three other historically black-owned banks--Founders Bank of Commerce in L.A., the Boston-based bank and Peoples Bank of Commerce in Miami.

"This is really about expanding the capacity of Family to deliver products and services to inner city L.A.," said Kevin Cohee, chairman and chief executive of OneUnited Bank.

The combination increases the number Family Savings Bank branches in the L.A. area to nine from four.

Family Savings Bank is an active community lender, but it recently exceeded its capital capacity, resulting in a loans-to-deposits ratio of more than 100 percent last year.

With more than $500 million in assets, OneUnited will broaden Family's traditional lending radius from single and multi-family housing to commercial real estate lending, shopping centers, and business lending such as franchises, Cohee said. The bank will also be active in the entertainment industry, he said.

OneUnited's shareholders include Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Janet Jackson and music industry executive Jheryl Busby. Its vice chairman is Kenneth Lombard, Johnson's longtime business partner.

The deal was announced last summer.